The digital revolution will not only dramatically improve the quality of the television picture, but also make possible the over-the-air delivery of several simultaneous services to viewers. This is due primarily to the three main benefits of the digital system: high definition television, multicasting in standard definition television and data transmission.

What is high definition television (HDTV)?

Digital television will allow stations to broadcast programs in much higher resolution or clarity than standard analog television. This is called high definition television or HDTV. Viewers at home will be able to receive high-quality, crystal-clear pictures. These visually stunning pictures, with more than twice the resolution and clarity of standard television, will be displayed in a wide screen format with a 16 by 9 width to height ratio compared to today's 4 by 3, or basically square format. And because HDTV is digital, audiences will have the benefit of six-channel CD-quality "surround sound." In other words, viewers will be able to enjoy a true home theater experience.
(Source: http://www.kbyu.org/dtv/)

Here's what the Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association (CEMA) is Saying:

The centerpiece application of Digital Television (DTV), known as High Definition Television (HDTV), is a common picture format and transmission standard for bringing broadcast television into the digital age.

A Better Picture

The new picture format offered by DTV allows for both a high-resolution and a wide-screen presentation. (In existing TVs, the ratio of picture width to height is only 4:3, or 12:9. DTV allows a ratio of 16:9). The combination of wide screen and photographic quality resolution ultimately will allow for the presentation of an entire football game with a single camera, showing the viewer all of the field as it can be seen from seats on the 50-yard line, with no fuzziness or blurring of the images, no matter how close one sits to the screen.

Access to a Wide Range of Digital Services

The move to digital broadcasting, in addition to supporting the superiority of the DTV signal, allows new services to be created. The broadcaster can choose multiple channels of television in lower resolution and screen width and provide data, information, and interactive services, bringing all consumers into the digital age.

What Are the Goals for DTV?

Unlike Europe and Japan, the United States is committed to free and local terrestrial television broadcasting. This means that no matter how many other media are available, Americans expect to be able to move anywhere in the country and receive local TV signals -- without buying a new receiver or adapter for each region or each station! DTV is simply a standard for preserving this freedom and assurance for consumers, at a level of much higher quality and flexibility, in the digital age.

DTV broadcasting, to be phased in while the existing analog system is phased out, will require new frequencies and new investments in equipment. But the number of consumers in the marketplace and the nature of television programming will remain relatively constant. For DTV to attract the necessary investment, broadcast television must remain a national market that is compatible with other media (such as cable television) that carry signals into homes. It must also provide a platform for the new digital services that will help support new investment.

Thus, the goals of DTV are:

• Offer better picture and sound quality
• Transmit in a wide-screen format through multiple channels
• Provide free over-the-air transmission in every locality, on a national basis
• Give consumers a range of receivers to chose from -- all with compatibility to operate in every community across the country
• Allow the introduction of new digital services provided by the broadcaster

Is DTV Sufficiently Flexible?

In this era of computers, multi-media and new broadcast digital services, is the ATSC standard for DTV technically flexible enough? Yes, because a thorough and cooperative advisory process has assured that it is.

Originally, the FCC's private sector advisory committee solicited competing proposals for DTV transmission methods. Ultimately, it recommended that the best aspects of competing digital systems be combined. In the formulation of the resulting "Grand Alliance" system, parallel advisory committees covering every aspect of the system, and drawing on every potentially concerned industry, were established and participated in every stage of the development process.

One key decision was to adopt the worldwide MPEG-2 standard for compression of digital signals. In this process, representatives of the computer industry were active participants. They also contributed to further determinations to adopt "square pixels" and multiple modes of progressive scanning, so that both the transmission method and the picture format of the standard are interoperable with computer techniques. To the extent future technological advances and their acceptance in the marketplace allow, progressive scan techniques favored by the computer industry can be adopted universally within the framework of the standard.
(Source: Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association)

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